Snare Islands

Snare Islands
The islands seen from the sea
Waters	Pacific Ocean
Geographical location	48 ° 1 ′  S , 166 ° 36 ′  E Coordinates: 48 ° 1 ′  S , 166 ° 36 ′  E
Number of islands	9
Main island	North East Island
Total land area	3.28 km²
Residents	uninhabited
Map of the Snare Islands

The Snares Islands ( English The Snares or Snares Islands , Māori : Tini Heke ) are an uninhabited group of islands in the southern Pacific . They belong to New Zealand and are about 200 km south of the South Island . The islands were called The Snares in English because they posed a danger to shipping ( English : snare = trap).

geography

Ho Ho Bay - with the yacht Tiama at anchor - looking north

The archipelago consists of the larger North East Island (2.8 km², maximum 130 m height) with its small neighboring islands Broughton (86 m) and Alert Stack (40 m) as well as the Western Chain with the islands of Rima (44 m Height), Wha (37 m), Toru (45 m) ', Rua (29 m), Tahi (33 m) and the Vancouver Rock . The Snare Islands have a total area of ​​3.28 km². The mean annual temperature is 11 ° C and the average rainfall is 1200 mm.

history

The islands were discovered twice by accident on November 23, 1791, independently of each other by Captain George Vancouver on the ship HMS Discovery and Lieutenant William Robert Broughton on the ship HMS Chatham .

Flora and fauna

Large numbers of seabirds breed on the islands, including the dark shearwater ( Puffinus griseus ) (about 3 million pairs) as well as the buller's albatross ( Thalassarche bulleri ) and the gray-backed albatross ( Thalassarche salvini ).

Endemic are the snares penguin ( Eudyptes robustus ), the Snares- tomtit ( Petroica macrocephala dannefaerdi ), the Snares- New Zealand Fernbird ( Bowdleria punctata caudata or Megalurus caudatus punctatus ) and the Snares- Schnepfe ( Coenocorypha aucklandica huegeli) , a subspecies of the Aucklandschnepfe .

The Snares are among the southernmost islands on which trees grow.

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  Trees on North East Island

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  A southern buller albatross breeds over the Penguin Slope

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  Endemic snare island penguins

natural reserve

The islands have been a nature reserve since 1977 ( Snares Islands Nature Reserve ) and have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1998 . In order to preserve the unique flora and fauna, the New Zealand government has categorically banned entering the islands.

literature

• About the Snares Islands Nature Reserve ( Memento from November 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; English)
• Colin M. Miskelly , Paul M. Sagar, R. Paul Scofiled, Alan JD Tennyson: Birds of the Snares Islands, New Zealand . In: The Ornithological Society of New Zealand (ed.): Notornis . Vol. 48. Wellington 2001, pp. 1–40 (English, online [PDF; 4.5 MB ; accessed on January 23, 2016]).

Web links

Commons : Snare Islands  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Detailed map of the Snare Islands